Crimson Falls to Tigers, Sits in Three-Way Tie for ECAC Lead

Just one night after a poor start against Quinnipiac, the Harvard men’s hockey team (6-7-3, 5-4-2 ECAC) now needs to worry about finishing games strong. Despite entering the third period with a 1-0 lead, the Crimson lost, 2-1, to Princeton (8-8-0, 6-4-0) on Saturday night in Princeton, N.J. With the defeat, Harvard squandered an opportunity to capture sole possession of first place in the ECAC.

“It’s definitely frustrating to give up a lead in the third period,” co-captain Dave MacDonald said. “At this point in this season, we need to be focusing on playing good hockey, and I think there are a lot of positives from the game. We had a lot of goal-scoring chances.”

With the score tied at one and a Crimson power play expiring, a simple case of bad luck caught the Harvard defense out of position.

As the Tigers cleared the puck from their own zone, Princeton’s Kevin Keiser exited the penalty box in the neutral zone just as the puck deflected in his direction. Finding himself on a breakaway with 2:36 remaining, Keiser buried a wrist shot from the hash mark past Harvard sophomore netminder Kyle Richter for the go-ahead goal.

“He was pretty much all alone,” junior forward Jimmy Fraser said. “He had enough time to bear down and pick his spot.”

As the final seconds of crunch time ticked away, coach Ted Donato ’91 pulled Richter with 1:29 remaining and used its 6-on-5 advantage to apply pressure in the Tigers zone. Despite converging on Princeton’s net and firing two shots on goal, the Crimson could not find the back of the net.

“Our best shots came in the closing minute of the game,” Fraser said. “We had a 6-on-5 advantage and shots just bounced over sticks and could have been in the back of the net.”

A team that has been struggling in the first period, Harvard put together a strong start on Saturday night. Following a run of back-and-forth play, Fraser scored his first goal of the season at 11:48 after senior forward Alex Meintel won a faceoff in the Princeton zone and directed the puck to freshman forward Michael Del Mauro.

“[Del Mauro] found me in the slot and made a beautiful pass to me, and I basically had a wide-open net,” Fraser said.

As the second period progressed, momentum gradually swung toward the Tigers, which outshot the Crimson, 18-9, for the period after Harvard enjoyed a 13-4 advantage in the first.

Most of this offensive disparity stemmed from Princeton’s four-minute man advantage in the middle of the second period. For half of that time, the Crimson skated two men down.

Senior forward Jon Pelle was already sitting in the box for interference when Richter took a call for high-sticking after responding to a hit from Princeton’s Dan Bartlett.

During that long power play, Richter withstood eight shots, and finished the night with a total of 34 saves. Harvard ended the night with a total of 32 shots on goal.

“It’s been the same story with Kyle all year long,” MacDonald said. “He’s been our best player, and he’s been able to bail us out of trouble. He has given us a chance to win all these close games if not winning some by himself.”

Saturday night’s loss marks the Crimson’s seventh straight game without a victory, and team has fallen below .500 for the first time since its season-opening loss to Clarkson in early November. Thanks to the win, Princeton now shares the top spot in the ECAC with Harvard and Clarkson.

“Any team in a season like ours will deal with some adversity, and we’re definitely at that point now,” MacDonald said. “It takes a lot of character to keep focused at times like this, and our team is up to the challenge.”

—Staff writer Robert T. Hamlin can be reached at rhamlin@fas.harvard.edu